Sets of Beethoven’s last five string quartets are not an unfamiliar
phenomenon, and one of the more recent recordings to come our
way was that of the Wihan Quartet on the Nimbus Alliance label
(see review).
I would agree with Patrick Waller that the Wihans offer a very
fine collection of performances of these works but find them
comparable with the Lydian players under critical examination
in falling a little short of the ideal here and there. As with
all truly great music there are many legitimate approaches and
no such thing as true perfection in general terms, but certain
expectations need to be met to convince this listener, and I
fear we have a way to go with regard to this Centaur set.

The Lydian players are recorded fairly closely, the acoustic
having less impact as a result but by no means ending up with
dry recordings. While a relatively non-fatiguing listen the
playing is however held to a closer scrutiny than in some comparisons.
There is a small amount of variation between recording sessions
but nothing much beyond a slightly warmer sonic picture from
one to the other. One of the most attractive aspects of this
set is the light touch the Lydians give to these pieces, their
transparency of sound emphasising the sunny side of music which
can confound expectations of a gruffly impatient and deafly
unsociable old Beethoven with his broken Broadwood, inconvenient
ear trumpet and smelly bedpan.

A great deal of fun can be had with these recordings and I warmed
to them on and off while playing through them for a first time.
There is however a troubling aspect to the playing which set
my teeth on edge from time to time, even when listening in uncritical
‘let’s just enjoy the music’ mode. Having the mini Allegretto
in B minor tacked on at the beginning is disorientating
if you are expecting the ‘great works’ experience to kick in
straight away, but we’ll let that pass. What worries me most
in patches is, not naming names, the first violin part. Admittedly
the first movement of the Op. 127 quartet is a tough
test in this regard, with the upper voice often seeming to lead
a life of its own. You can call me hypercritical but with this
recording there is a certain amount of ‘almost but not quite’,
a lack of sense of direction which results in some tentative
sounds and notes not firmly nailed. This might be interpreted
as an attractive fragility if you want to be charitable, and
I certainly don’t mean that Beethoven should be shoved around
with aggressive assertiveness here, but with so much going on
we need clarity of intent and a minimum of technical distractions.
Listening to the Emerson Quartet on Deutsche Grammophon shows
how this need not be the case. I won’t hark on about this point
and it is by no means a universal problem in every piece, but
faster movements such as the Presto of Op. 131
can have one or two vague moments, and there are little corners
and small nests of naff notes which I know will bother me when
returning to these recordings.

The payoff against the Lydian Quartet’s transparency is another
lack, alas. Beethoven’s extremes of contrast need power and
colour to communicate anguish, and this is an aspect of these
late quartets which is ironed out too much in these performances.
Once again comparing with the Emerson Quartet on DG in the final
Grave of the Op. 135 quartet, the questioning
and defiance in this music just isn’t expressed in as effective
a way with the Lydian players. Their Allegro section
is lovely and luminous, anticipating Dvorák in a countryside
jaunt with a great deal to commend it, but the dramatic storm
clouds which develop later on are hardly a threat to our hats
and coats, let alone our innermost souls.

Let’s cut to the chase. There are numerous sets of these transcendent
works which I would recommend above The Lydian String Quartet
by a greater or lesser margin. Of these the Emerson
Quartet on DG is a winning choice, and the Quartetto
Italiano recordings originally on Philips and now available
on a complete set with the Decca label while damned somewhat
by late-quartet sceptic David Wright still has masses of emotional
involvement to recommend it, even if the sheen of legendary
status has worn off somewhat by now. The Alban
Berg Quartet on EMI digs deep in eloquent live performances,
if with not the most convincing of recorded balances. I still
very much enjoy the Alexander Quartet, both in their first Arte
Nova set, now surpassed by a more recent recording on Foghorn
Classics. Having leapt over to complete sets while this
wasn’t really my intention, I’ll stick up for the Borodin
Quartet on Chandos, which is still something of a benchmark
for me while also still not always hitting the mark, and despite
still bemoaning the lack of any booklet notes. This list if
by no means comprehensive, and if you have a chance to obtain
the Takács Quartet on Decca or the Lindsays on ASV then hesitate
not.

There are many nice things on this recording by The Lydian String
Quartet, and I admire their lyricism and warmth of expression,
for instance in the opening movement of the Op. 131
quartet which is lovely, and even the more tender moments in
the madly awkward opening movement of Op. 130. Another
aspect of the playing you may or may not like however is a deal
of swooping between notes, a standout example of which is to
be found in the opening of the Cavatina of Op.
130. The awful but genre-stretching Grosse Fuge
is placed here as a penultimate movement, in its position as
the original finale. You can programme it out and have the Finale
second version on the next track instead. I was hoping the Lydian’s
lightness of touch might sell me more on the immutable monument
of Op. 133 and indeed they do a decent enough job,
but for me its intractability remains intact.

Dominy Clements

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